Mate and Misunderstanding
by BittersweetSonata
Summary: Natsu sparks an interesting conversation in the guild. "Lucy kept me up last night." Gray choked. "S-she what?" It was all just a big misunderstanding. But the truth is, Lucy and Natsu are both in love with each other. And it's driving Natsu insane. He even talked to Gajeel. So he decides to tell Lucy about a dragon's mate. And that's where things get really interesting.


**So I haven't done anything for Valentine's day yet and I figured I needed to. So, here's a one shot for you. Because we all need a little NaLu love to make this holiday better!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, duh. It would be freakin' awesome, but I don't. Okay?**

**Enjoy! And Happy Valentine's Day!**

Mate and Misunderstanding

Lucy sighed as she laid her head on the bar counter. She was exhausted. Mira-jane smiled at the blonde as she wiped a glass and set it down. "Hey Lucy, how are you today? You came in kind of late. And I haven't seen Natsu around this morning either."

Lucy lifted her head a little to respond to the ex-takeover mage. "I am so tired. Natsu broke into my house again last night and I didn't think I would ever get him to leave!" she threw her hands up in frustration. "I swear, that idiot's going to kill me someday!"

Mira smiled sympathetically at the celestial mage. "Well, you know Natsu."

Lucy rolled her eyes. "Oh _yes. _I do know Natsu. And I know that when he has his mind set on something there is no way to persuade him otherwise. And so, he persisted to sleep in my bed with me last night." she turned a slight pink and quieted her voice at the last line. "I'm telling you Mira, that guy is insufferable!"

Mira set a vanilla milkshake down in front of the stressed blonde. "I'm sure it's not as bad as you think it is, Lucy. Did Natsu tell you why he thinks your house is better than his?"

Lucy snorted. "Well, my house is _clean _for one thing. But he obviously doesn't care about that. He says that my bed is more comfortable. If that's the case, he needs to go on a mission, not destroy so many things, and use the reward to buy himself a better bed!" she took a sip of her drink.

Mira sweat dropped. "Well, he may have other reasons too, you know Lucy."

Lucy sighed. "I know. But that dense idiot wouldn't know love if it bit him in the behind. He's like a rock, Mira. A dense, trespassing, fire obsessed, pink headed rock!" she laid her head back down on the counter.

Mira smiled. "Well, we know that you like him."

"Yes. But that's not the point. He's so stupid! I know he's not like other guys! He's not normal! And I know that! But still!" her words were a bit muffled. "And do you know what today is? Of course you do! Because it's Valentine's Day! A day for lovers, couples, significant others! Not for _partners!_"

Mira looked around at the pink, white, and red decorations hung around the guild hall. Her eyes wandered back to Lucy. "You never know Lucy. Natsu may surprise you."

Her eyes brightened as she saw the missing member enter the guild. "Well, Lucy, it looks like your rock is here!" she whispered.

Lucy's head shot up. "Mira! I did not say he was my _rock! _I said he was _like _a rock!"

Mira smiled. "If you say so Lucy."

Natsu yawned and stretched. Gray spotted his rival/friend and walked over to him.

"You're later than usual this morning."

Natsu blinked and yawned once more. "Lucy kept me up last night."

Gray choked on his own spit. "S-she what?" he demanded.

Natsu frowned. "I said Lucy kept me up last night."

This statement caught the attention of Gajeel and several other male members of Fairy Tail.

Gray stared at him in shock. "What do you mean?"

But Natsu wasn't paying attention to the ice mage. "I mean, all I wanted to do was sleep with her. I didn't expect to have to go through all of _that._" he said, remembering all her whining, complaining, and even the Lucy kick he received. "I am so _sore._" he groaned.

Gajeel promptly spit out the old iron spoon he was munching on, causing Jet to get pelted with bits of iron. "Dragneel, you can't be serious!" he yelled.

Natsu shot him an annoyed look. "I'm completely serious. I didn't know Lucy could get that rough."

At this point, Cana was _very _interested in the conversation. "Oh really Natsu? So, how was she?"

Natsu gave her a confused look. "What? What do you mean?"

Gajeel and Gray gave him a rough slap on the back. "Congratulations Salamander." Gajeel said.

At this point, Natsu was totally lost. "I don't know what you're talking about." he said slowly.

Cana took a swig of whatever alcoholic beverage she was drinking. "He's congratulating you for sleeping with Lucy."

Natsu frowned. "But I've done it plenty of times before." he reasoned.

This remark caused Cana to promptly spit out the sip she had taken. Which just so happened to go all over Gajeel. "Hey!"

Her face held a shocked expression. "P-plenty of t-times before?" she yelled.

Erza and Levy walked over. "What's plenty of times before?" the bluenette asked.

"Salamander's slept with Lucy a lot, apparently. He says she's pretty rough." Gajeel enlightened the two.

Erza's face turned the same shade of scarlet as her hair and Levy's blue hair contrasted greatly with her bright pink blush.

Gray was still thinking over one important fact. "How did we not know this before?"

Gajeel shook his head. "Don't know. No wonder they spend so much time together. It all makes so much sense now."

Levy and Erza walked over to the bar where Lucy was completely oblivious to the conversation the guys were having. Levy put a hand on Lucy's shoulder. "Lu-chan, I had no idea you were like that." she said quietly.

Lucy gave her friend a confused look. "What do you mean Levy?"

At this, Erza clapped a hand down on Lucy's other shoulder. "We didn't know you slept with Natsu constantly."

Lucy and Mira-jane's mouths dropped open. "W-what? Who said that?" Lucy cried.

"We heard it from Natsu."

_Of course. _It all made sense now. Lucy realized that they must have misunderstood Natsu. But, she was still furious with the dragon slayer, as well as Gray and Gajeel, who she was sure played an important role in this whole fiasco.

The celestial mage immediately stood up and stalked over to where her partner was.

She put a hand on his shoulder and gave him a sickeningly sweet smile. "Natsu," then her face distorted into a death glare. _"What the hell did you say?" _

The pink headed boy cowered in fear. Lucy was _scary _when she was like this. It wasn't normal. "I-I just told them the truth." he responded meekly.

Lucy nodded her head stiffly. "I take it you told the that we s-slept t-together." Damn her stuttering!

The dragon slayer nodded quickly. Lucy sighed and smiled at him. "Natsu, you can't just go around saying things like that. I know what you mean, but other people wouldn't understand. Okay?" he nodded again, relieved that she was no longer mad at him.

"Tell me, who did you tell exactly that we slept together?" she asked him lowly.

He frowned. "Gray and Gajeel. Cana kinda just, joined in the conversation on her own."

Lucy smiled at her partner and patted his shoulder. Then, she turned to the three sitting across from him. Her eyes held an evil glint that scared even Gajeel. "_You three, you have dirty minds, don't you? Well, listen here, and listen well. Natsu and I did _not _sleep together in the way that you are thinking. Got it?" _the three shook their heads, terrified. Lucy could rival Erza when she was _that angry. _

She smiled. "Good. Now don't be spouting such nonsense anymore. Okay?"

They nodded again.

Lucy turned back to Natsu who was looking rather amused at his friends' predicament. "Let's go on a mission!"

Natsu grinned back at her. "Sounds good Luce!"

Later, Lucy tiredly threw her bag on her couch and collapsed on her bed. She was so tired, but at least she had rent money now. Natsu had actually gone out of his way to _not _destroy things this time. Which, quite frankly, had surprised her. She felt bad about getting mad and yelling at him that morning, but it got her rent money.

She yawned and got up to take a bath. A while later, she changed into her pajamas and settled into bed. It wasn't that she didn't want Natsu to sleep with her, and _not what you're thinking, _in fact, it was the complete opposite

She quite liked waking up with him right beside her. Of course, she had an image to maintain. Not just anyone could break into her house and sleep in her bed with her. No, just Natsu. And that's why she had to pretend to be mad about it.

Because the truth was, Lucy was in love with her best friend and partner, Natsu Dragneel. Yes, it was true. She didn't know exactly when she fell in love with him, but she probably guessed it was the first time she'd seen him in Hargeon that day when he saved her from the fake Salamander's clutches.

She pulled the blanket up over her blushing face. Indeed. She was very much in love with the dense dragon slayer. But it wasn't like he would ever love her back. No. And it hurt her sometimes when she thought about it.

She looked to see if the window to her room was unlocked. She smiled. It was. Apparently, the thought had never occurred to her partner to use the door. Of course, he might be thinking that she wouldn't let him in anyway, and that's why he used the window. Honestly, with him, it was hard to tell.

Lucy sighed and rolled over, soon after falling asleep.

A few hours later, a silent figure walked the streets. He watched carefully for a specific house. He smiled to himself when he saw it, and gracefully crept through the window. He landed with a soft thud onto the floor, careful not to wake his sleeping partner.

He yawned. His usual partner in crime wasn't with him tonight. No, the blue exceed had decided to stay home, which was weird because he always wanted to come. Natsu stretched and quietly slid into bed with Lucy.

Truth was, he actually knew what his fellow guild members were talking about earlier that day. He wasn't really as dense as everyone thought he was. Well, it did take him a while afterward to actually _realize _what they were talking about and congratulating him for, but that's beside the point. He felt his face heat up at the thought.

In reality, he was in love with Lucy. Yeah, and he'd fallen _hard. _He didn't know when it had happened, but he guessed it was probably the first time that he saw her. He knew it sounded cliche. Really, he did. But he didn't care.

Dragon's mated for life, he knew this. He'd just never given it much thought before. He knew that Gajeel had found his mate, and he also knew that if he didn't make a move soon, there could be some pretty bad consequences for the guy. It would be bad if Levy chose some other guy because Gajeel never did anything about it.

But this had never really concerned Natsu before. Now however, he _knew _who his mate was. And he also knew that if he didn't act fast, there would be major problems. But there was already one major problem.

He didn't know if Lucy felt the same way about him.

Natsu was at a loss. And it was slowly killing him every day. He didn't know what to do. Hell, he;d even talked to _Gajeel _about it. Crazy right? Well, it was driving Natsu _insane. _

He would see Lucy, and he wanted her to be his. But he couldn't so anything about it. Because he was scared. He was scared that she wouldn't feel the same way about him. That he'd ruin their perfect friendship with his stupid confession. He was scared that she would reject him.

Gajeel had laughed at him at first. But then he'd told him that there was nothing to worry about. That everything would be fine. That Lucy wouldn't reject him. That all he needed to do was _tell her how he felt. _

Natsu was slightly skeptical of this advice. Seeing as how the iron dragon slayer had yet to tell _his _mate that he loved her. Of course, he didn't voice his opinion to Gajeel, that could result in a major problem and he already had one that he didn't know how to deal with. He did not need another one right now.

So, Natsu had said screw it. He was going to tell Lucy how he felt and face the consequences of his action like a man. Elfman briefly popped into his head and he shook it off. He looked down at the sleeping beauty in front of him. How was he going to play this?

Lucy wasn't really asleep. She'd been expecting Natsu to come and sure enough, just like clock work, he was there in bed with her. She opened her eyes and startled the dragon slayer.

"Lucy!" he whispered hoarsely.

She raised an eyebrow. "Natsu?"

He panicked. "I uh, sorry. Um, maybe I should go? Yeah. I should probably do that." _'What the hell am I doing? Did I really just say that?' _he mentally kicked himself.

She reached out a hand and grabbed his wrist. "Don't go." she whispered.

He gave her a confused look. "You don't want me to go? You never want me to sleep in your bed."

Lucy bit her lip. "Really. I want you to stay."

Natsu returned to his previous position of laying beside her. "Hey Luce, about earlier today, I'm sorry."

She smiled. "It's okay."

Natsu closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He was going to do it. "Hey Luce?"

She hummed at him, her eyes closed as well. "Yeah?"

"Did you know that dragons mate for life?" he asked her.

She snuggled deeper into the comforter and closer towards the source of warmth which just so happened to be Natsu. "Yeah. I'd heard that before."

He nodded. "And did you know that once they pick a mate, they can never move on. It's that mate who they love."

Lucy's eyebrows furrowed. Where was he going with this? "That's interesting."

"Did you know that I've found mine?"

Her eyes flew open. His voice...it just totally changed. It was huskier than before and there was something there that she couldn't quite pinpoint. A little bit of her heart also died along with his question/statement.

Lucy forced a smile. "Oh really? That's wonderful." her voice was strained.

Of course, it didn't escape Natsu's sharp sense of hearing. He pulled her closer to him. "She's perfect, ya know? Well, she's weird too, but that's okay." he whispered into her ear.

Lucy was frozen. Her eyes were wide and unblinking. Her mouth was stuck in a small line. She couldn't move any of her limbs. She was literally stuck.

Natsu smirked into her hair. "Ya know, I was really worried at first. I didn't think she liked me at all, not like that anyway. Tell me I'm wrong but, I don't think that's the case."

Lucy's throat went dry. He knew? He knew she liked-no loved him? _He knew? _"I-I...y-you're not wrong." she managed. Damn it all! Stuttering again!

Natsu tilted her head up and looked her dead in the eyes. "So, you feel the same way?"

Lucy licked her dry lips. "Yeah. I do."

Natsu grinned. "Good."

And then he crashed his lips into hers.

Lucy didn't know how he knew. And she really didn't care. It didn't hurt anymore.

When the two parted, Natsu grinned at her again. "I love you Luce."

She smiled back at him. "I love you too, Natsu."

The next morning, Mira could tell something was different. Lucy was glowing. Could this mean...?

When Lucy took her seat at the bar, Mira rushed right over. "Oh, good morning-" Lucy began but Mira cut her off.

"Lucy! Did Natsu finally tell you? Did he finally confess?" she asked hurriedly.

Lucy blushed. "Mira!" she whispered harshly. "Not so loud! And yes. He did."

Across the guild sat an amused Salamander and his fellow guild mates.

Gray's mouth hang open. "Y-you actually did it?"

Natsu nodded. "Yes ice princess. I actually did it." he shot a look to Gajeel who scowled at him.

Cana smiled. "Good for Lucy!" she raised her glass and took a big gulp.

Gray smirked. "So, did anything else happen between you two last night?"

Natsu turned a peculiar shade of pink at his rival/friend's suggestive question. "No! We just slept together, and not like you're thinking, perverted stripper!"

**Not what you're thinking! Nothing dirty you guys...ew. **

**Anyway, how did you like it? **

**Sorry for any grammar mistakes/errors. **

**I'm off now to do...something...please favorite, follow, and especially review! That would make my Valentine's Day much better because I'm no ones Valentine today...**

**Bye bye now!**

**- Sonata**


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